The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!

Yes, it had to happen. After the 6 warmest and sunniest consecutive weeks the Pacific Northwest has seen in a looooong time, clouds and precip are finally edging their way from forecast to reality. Are we sad that summer might be coming to an end? Sure, who wouldn't be. But like any skiers out there, everyone at G3 knows there's some wintery goodness on the horizon. The first fall storms, no matter how wimpy or how far from freezing, are a reminder of winters passed and a giant tease for the winter ahead.

The royal 'they' are calling for another La Niña, and who are we to argue with that? For most of the West Coast, last winter's La Niña weather made for one of the best ski seasons in recent memory, or possibly ever, depending on where you call home.

These weather systems still have a long way to go before winter is upon us; snowing instead of raining would be a good start. But thanks to last winter's record snowpack, there's still plenty of summer snow on the Cascade Volcanoes and other big alpine peaks, so you should be able ski for the rest of 2011, whether winter shows up or not! We know we will be.

But for those of you who did take a summer break from skiing, now might just be the time to start those squats and lunges, line up your ski quiver for 2011/12, and let 2 months of daydreaming ensue.